


The Long Road

by Missy



Category: Galavant (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Extramarital Affairs, Friends to Lovers, Horseback Riding, Humor, Idylls, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 03:44:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5114663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gareth and Richard's attempt at a peaceful tryst in the wood goes sideways when the horses go missing.  And when nature persists on being natural, not that Gareth can help that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long Road

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



There is, if you march long and march hard enough, a long, winding road that leads out of Valencia and to a lovely and stately mountain, a perfect vantage point for those who wished to peer down at the impressive expanse of trees below. In years before it had been a haven for pirates and smugglers; now it was the king’s personal territory, with carefully maintained roads that allowed the king to traverse smoothly to its peak without the icky possibility of falling to his death.

Out of pure, lavish, and embarrassing fondness, he’d named the bloody thing ‘mount Gareth.’  
On a fine, mild fall evening the King and his man at arms set out for a long ride, simply out of need to enjoy the fresh spring air. “Ahh,” Gareth exhaled, slow and long, as he pulled his steed around and tightened his hold on the reigns. “There ain’t nothing in the world like a little bit of cool mountain air.” He glanced over his shoulder to double-check on Richard. “Sure you don’t wanna ride side-saddle?” he asks. That was Richard’s old position when they were younger and been forced to share a beast for the young price’s safety. 

Richard’s knuckles are white as he trots his horse up the steep hill. “Why do roads have to be so bumpy? When we return to the castle remind me to sign an order – all pathways into and out of the kingdom should be as smooth as my fair forehead.”

“Don’t start going on about your bleedin’ head,” Gareth complained. “Open your eyes and take a look around.” He switched his reins to his right hand, gestured to the expanse of green and blue surrounding them. “Look around and what do you see?”

“A very tall handsome man…and a copse of ragweed.” Richard immediately released a loud, copious sneeze. 

“Sounds like y’got a gremlin in your nostril.” He dug into his hip pocket and pulled out a spanish lace handkerchief. “Here, blow,” he ordered. Richard did so, then handed it back to him. “You ever been to the top of Old Craggyface?” he asked, indicating the large rock formation looming over their heads.

“Never,” Richard scoffed. “Kings don’t climb rocks, they conquer them. If I want to go rock climbing I would have you carry me to the top on a phaeton.” 

“I ain’t carrying you, but we could get the horses to the top on this trail,” he said. 

“Oh all right. I suppose the altitude will clear my sinuses,” Richard replied. He straightened his back and then gently kicked his animal into a forward motion.

*** 

The hills that greeted the two men were steeper than Gareth remembered, but still asture and beautiful. Creamy greens blended into dark forest-shaded tones, and in the distance a hawk squawked and circled overhead. After taking another look over his shoulder to double-check that Richard was still with him, Gareth took his horse on a sharp course over the hills and dales, occasionally careful to make sure Richard had not taken a tumble over the nearest ledge on accident. 

To his surprise the monarch was keeping apace, occasionally sniffing at the pollen-laden wind or scolding his horse for nosing at a particularly lush underbrush. Gareth kept his horse on an even canter until they rounded one final bend and found a stone plateau with a babbling stream and a copse of trees. He found a knobby branch to tether his horse to and waited for Richard to bring his animal around and dismount. 

Richard did so with his typical clumsy grace, cursing under his breath and pulling his cape about before it tripped him. 

“There,” Richard said, tucking his hands to his hips and glancing about them. “Now what on earth did you bring me out here for?”

“This,” Gareth said, yanking Richard to him for a quick kiss. When he pulls away, the monarch is starry-eyed and it takes him a moment to settle his features into a mask of regal indifference. 

“How…delightfully naughty of you?” Richard’s eyes were still barmy with sensual pleasure.

Gareth’s nose wrinkled. “Don’t be calling me naughty. There ain’t anything sexy about comparing me to a mewling tot.”

“You aren’t a tot,” replied Richard. “I know that well enough.” He sighed and passed the reins of his steed to Gareth before settling down beside him on a large, pale grey rock. The view is tremendous – he can see all the way down to the edge of the cliff from here, the trees, rocks, sand, and the bright blue waters rushing from mountain to mountain. 

Gareth wonders if he should start asking questions now that they’re in confidence together. There might be something to be said about Madalena, and how to best tame her influence over the kingdom. Perhaps there was something he could do? Some unknown spring to pull or a rule to make? He can probably neutralize her, if he puts enough thought into it. 

“Whelp,” Richard said lightly, shedding is doublet, “the royal scepter isn’t going to polish itself.”

Gareth snorts. “Ey, try to romance me a bit, why don’t ya? I ain’t no streetside doxy?”

“No,” Richard said lightly, “but you are bound to obey me. Schmoopsy-poo.”

“Not with the nicknames,” Gareth moaned. 

But his clothes came off anyway.

*** 

Sex with Richard had always been easy. Not simple, of course –nothing with Richard was simple and left uncomplicated by either his ego, his bloodthirst or his sense of propriety. It was something they’d done since he’d turned of legal age and assumed the throne, a means of ridding himself of stress and a form of comfort when he felt he couldn’t escape his brother’s shadow. Then it became a way of manly bonding, of showing his loyalty; and finally a sign of strange love, the only means they had to display their sexual compatibility and fondness. If that meant dealing with Richard’s infernal clinging then he’d finished then he’d cope with it; if that meant lying to his fellow soldiers to get a little free time in the clean air with him, then darn it, he would lie until his face turned blue. As always, it was Gareth who bore up and did his best to champion the man with whom he’d thrown his lot in, tried to make him feel like the best, most able lover in the entire galaxy, while Richard lived in his impenetrable Godlike bubble.

In the aftermath he lay back under the bright sunlight and felt Richard shudder, his beard scraping along his shoulders. “Excellent work, steed.”

This was the highest compliment Richard thought he could pay his most erstwhile top. “Oh hell, don’t call me your steed,” muttered Gareth, disengaging himself from Richard’s soft, pampered hands.

“I thought I should thank you for a good ride, that’s all!” Richard said quite happily, resting on his back and looking up into the night sky, uncaring that he’d come to repose on Gareth’s shirt. “Dear God, there are so many clouds. It’s so…natural,” he said, rolling the word on his tongue as if it repulsed him.

“Yeah, that’s what it’s like up here in the mountains. Ain’t nobody to trouble you for nothing,” he said, scratching his stomach and yawning, throwing an arm around Richard’s shoulder.

“They should fill it up with something cleaner. I ought to build a cottage or something.”

“Ain’t enough room with this many caves lying about,” he said.

“Well, then I’d MAKE room,” Richard declared. “But…for the moment I suppose I could enjoy it.”

He lapsed into silence as the clouds danced over their heads. Gareth said nothing, moved not a muscle, and let the world float by around them, warm-breezed and pine scented.

**** 

“Do you suppose Madalena really has another lover stocked away?”

Richard woke Gareth up with the theory, and it’s enough to make him glare. “Any beside the jester? Nah, couldn’t find anyone willing to testify to it. It’s probably true he’s the only one she corrupted.”

“Corrupted? Oh come now, that’s a bit much don’t you think?” Richard reached for his shirt, reluctantly sitting up and then donning it. “She’s a slightly wayward woman, not a disease.”

“Hah! Ask your jester about that,” Gareth replied. “Fella’s gotta be itching his balls off by now.”

“Madalena is a woman of sterling character. I’m sure he tried to seduce her,” he muttered. 

Gareth allowed Richard his delusions. “All right. Gonna have to stretch the poor bugger out anyway for the adultery rap. Might as well do it on honest pretenses.” He reached for his trousers. “You all set to ride back out?”

“Maybe if you give me another moment,” Richard said. “I am awfully peaked from that ride you gave me earlier.”

“Wouldya stop mentioning the ride?” he grumbled. “Ought to take you over my knee.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Richard squared his shoulders. “As a royal person of distinct linage, I demand that my royal bottom remain unbruised…” He frowned. “Which I don’t believe it shall remain if I’m forced to ride astraddle again. Perhaps we could try side-saddle just this one time?”

“Fine. You can ride side-saddle. But you ain’t riding on my horse.” He emits a piercing whistle, trying to call for his steed, but the animal is nowhere to be seen. Gareth grunts, cups his lips, lets out a hearty ‘HEY!’. But nope; no dice, no reply, no horse.

“You probably scared the poor thing off,” Richard coos. “Lady Pumperwinkle!” he trills. “Where have you gone?”

“Yellin’ at her ain’t gonna help!” Gareth retorts. “You seen The Destoryer anyway?”

“I’m quite familiar with your destroyer.”

“Not that! My horse!”

Richard frowned. “The horses are gone, we’re in the middle of nowhere, and you have leaves in your jacket. Don’t just stand there! Someone’s trying to kidnap me!”

Gareth sighed deeply. The last thing he wanted to do was spend an age trying to calm down his panicked lover; Richard could be so difficult when he was insecure. “Maybe it ain’t about you!” Gareth suggested patiently. “Maybe they just wanted a ride out to the 

“Or they’re trying to catch me in an unkingy position!”

“Well, they’re an hour loo late for that,” snorts Gareth. “Come on, follow me.”

It doesn’t take them very long before they reach the end of the stream that had made such a lovely, trickling background music to their lovemaking. And there, they find their horses – nuzzling each other between sips of water.

“…Our horses are in love. I don’t bloomin’ believe it.” Gareth rubs his eyes.

“I think it’s beautiful!” Richard protests. “It’s not often two horses find love with each other, and I think we ought to support them.”

“If you’re suggesting a wedding that stuff went out with Calligula.”

“Oh come on! I’m not suggesting we add them to the senate! Just find then a nice, quiet paddock filled with hay and soft mood lighting. A comfortable place they can be out in public without people judging them.”

“Give ‘em what we can’t have?”

“I didn’t say that, Gareth.”

But that is exactly what Richard means. Gareth tethers the horse to a tumbled piece of driftwood as he reaches for Richard’s hand. “It’s gonna be different some day. When Madalena’s taken out and we can rule side-by-side.”

“Yes. That would be lovely, dear,” says Richard. “And the people will accept us. Won’t have much of a choice, between the two of us, right?”

Gareth pats the man’s back. “Damn right. Now can you remember the way back home?”

“Of course,” he scoffs. “Down the path, no tripping.” He raises an eyebrow. “Certainly no falling.”

“Late for that, I suppose,” Gareth says gruffly. He doesn’t bother doing more cosseting; Richard might require a great deal of pampering, but when Gareth speaks, all of his fears are laid to waste.

He holds out his hand for Gareth to kiss, and the man complies with a quick peck, then reaches for his friend’s reins and starts the horse to walking, to flying, back to the castle that was truly theirs alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Really hope you enjoyed this one!! I had a bit of fun trying to give this just the right touch, make it not-too-fluffy and not too sweet.


End file.
